Safety-platform for railway-cars



(No Model.)

A. J. PENNINGTON. SAFETY PLATFORM PoR RAILWAY GARS.

No. 580,422. 'Patented Apr. 13, 1897.

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UNTTED STATES ANDREW J. PENNINGTON, OF GIBSLAND, LOUISIANA.

SAFETY-PLATFORM FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 580,422, dated April 13, 1897. Application filed December 29,1896. Serial No. 617,350. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW J. PENNING- TON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Gibsland, in the parish of Bienville and State of Louisiana, have invented a new and useful Safety-Platform for Railway-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in safety-platforms for railway-cars.

The object of the present invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive, and efficient platform designed to be mounted on the ends of cars and adapted to afford a convenient support for persons compelled to go between cars for coupling and other purposes and capable of absolutely preventing injuries usually resulting from this class of work and often occasioned by train -hands catching their feet in the rails or cross-ties.

A further object of the invention is to provide a platform which will be adapted to yield when cars come together in coupling to avoid injury and to enable the platforms of two cars to adjust themselves automatically to the Width of the space between the cars.

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a safety-platform constructed in accordance with this invention and shown applied to a car. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the position of the platform when two cars are coupled.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in both figures of the drawings.

l designates a pair of substantially vertically-disposed standards or supports depending from and secured at their upper terminals to the dead-wood of a car 2 or to any other suitable portion of the framework thereof,

` and each of the standards consists of two sections 3 and 4, connected at their adjacent ends by a hinge-joint 5. The upper section 3 of the standard l is rigid with the car, and horizontal arms 6 extendv outward from the lower terminals of the lower sections 4, to which they are hinged, and the arms 6 form supports for a horizontal platform 7, which is thereby hingedly connected with the bottoms of the standards.

The platform 7, which is preferably con structed of Wood, is provided adjacent to its ends with guides 8, disposed transversely of the -platform and preferably having their terminals extended through the same and serving as the means for mounting the platform on the horizontal arms 6. The rear edge of the platform or foot-board is recessed adjacent to the lower sections of the standards to provide spaces to receive the standards when the platform moves inward.

In order to support the platform in a horizontal position, braces 9 are provided. These braces, which are disposed at an inclination, have their upper terminals rigidly secured to the upper sections 3 of the standards or supports, and the lower ends of the braces are provided with eyes 10, which receive the guides 8. By this construction the platform is adapted to move inward and outward to accommodate itself to the vibrations of a car and to adapt itself to the distance between two cars that are coupled.

The wooden platform or foot-board is designed to be reinforced at its edges by asuitable metallic binding, and the rest of the device is constructed of metal. The lower sections 4 of the standards are supported by a horizontal bar ll, which forms a guard-rail to prevent the foot of the train-hand from slipping backward oif the platform or foot-board.

The rear faces of the lower sections 4 of the standards or supports are engaged by iiat springs 12, depending from the car-frame and adapted to hold the platform extended when cars are coupled, and the upper ends of the springs are interposed between the upper portions of the standards or supports and the adjacent edge of the dead-Wood of the car, whereby they are secured in position.

It will be seen that the safety-platform is simple and comparatively inexpensive in construction, that it is adapted to be readily applied to any ordinary railway-car, and that it forms a firm support for persons compelled to go between cars for coupling and other purposes and will prevent the injuries usually resulting from this class of work.

It will also be apparent that the platform IOOV is adapted to yield to avoid breakage and to accommodate itself to the width of the space between two coupled cars.

What I claim is- 1. The combination with a car, of a platform or foot-board extending across the end of the car and located below the car-coupling, and standards or supports secured to the car and suspending the platform therefrom, said standards or supports being provided with movable joints arranged to permit the platform or foot-board to move inward beneath the car automatically when two cars come together for coupling to avoid breakage and to accommodate itself to the space between the cars, substantially as described.

2. A device of the class described comprismy own I have hereto affixed my signature inV ing standards having hinged lower sections, a platform or foot-board hinged to the lower sections, andbraces secured to the standards and movably connected with the platform, i

substantially as described.

3. A device of the class described comprising standards having rigid upper sections and hinged lower sections, a platform or foot- 25 board hinged to the lower sections of the standards and provided with transverse guides, and braces secured to the upper sections of the standards and provided at their lower ends with eyes receiving the transverse guides, substantially as described.

4. Adevice of the class described comprising standards having hinged lower sections, a platform or foot-board hinged to the lower sections of the standards, braces depending from the standards and movably connected with the platform or foot-board, and springs engaging the lower sections of the standards for holding the platform normally extended, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as the presence of two witnesses.

ANDREW J. PENNING'lO-N.

Witnesses:

R. F. PARNELL, W. H. HAMMETT. 

